Kansas Health and Physical Education Association
November, 1938

Vol. VIII
"BASKET BALL BREVITIES"
By
Dr. Forrest C, Allen

Seasonal Preparations

 

The old adage, “A thing well begun is
half done” certainly holds true in the
preparations for a strenuous competitive
basketball season. Schedules carefully
arranged, adequate playing equipment all
in order, prospective players hardened
for the early grind by religicus adher-=
ence to their preliminary sctting-vup
exercises and “early to bed and early to
rise" childhood ideals, and the playing
court with its lines and baskets and nets
trim and expectant -- all combine to say
to a returning coach, "The stage is set,
and it's going to be a great season."
Such studied and complete preparations
send a coach home whistling -- if he can
whistle -- or singing -- if he can sing.
In whatever state of awareness he finds
himself, he is trying to say, “God's in
His heaven, All's right with the world."

So important does the writer deem
these simple exercises that during the
entire season he gives 5 minutes daily
to their execution. Failure on the part
of the men to execute these drills is re-
garded by the coach as a direct violation
of the training schedule and is treated
as such, If consistently followed, these
exercises will so strengthen the ligamen-
tous attachments of the fingers, wrists,
ankles, and knees that few injuries will
occur in scrimmage.

Push-up Dip. Get down on all fours
with the body extended parallel to the
floor and with fingers and toes support-
ing the body. Without letting the abdo-
men, chest, or thighs touch the floor,
execute a full dip. Then push up and
dig again. Without allowing the hips to
sag, repeat this exercise 12 times,

Full Squat Dip. Stand in upright
position, With arms extended laterally
to perfect the body balance, extend the
right leg to the front and sink slowly
on the left foot to a full squat. With-
out touching the floor with the hends cr
with the extended leg, put entire woight
on the left leg and thigh, and depend up-

Bulletin No. 2

on the strength of the knce and the hip
joints to bring the body again to an up-
right position. Finish with a rising skir.
Repeat this exercise, 3 times on each leg,
twice daily.

All these setting-up exercises should
be alowly stretched through, quite after
the manner cr oa contented cat before a
fire. Plenty of stretching kecps the
spine supple and the body youthful.

 

If nothing else could be said to play-
ers about eating this should suffice: Eat
slowly at mealtimes and eat nothing be-
tween meals. How rapidly a player eats
is just as important as what he eats.

The three Bts = Boiled, Broiled, and
Baked Foods. - Boiled, broiled, and
baked meats should constitute good dicte-
tic fundamentals for a training menu;
there should be no fried foods. The play~-
ers should have their interests in body
metabolism and the relative values of fats.
proteins, and carbohydrates whetted to
the point that they will thoroughly under-:
stand about tissuc-building foods. If
meats are eaten before games, the meal
should be served three hours previously,

Oranges, This fruit is a pet hobby of
the author for the training diet of all
athletes. Through his long years of coach
ing, so important has the writer consider-
ed the use of oranges for conditioning
players that he has never ceased to sug-
gest a team orange fund to every "pep"
orgenization with which he has come into
contact. The sum-total results of this
athletic orange-eating hobby have been
without exception an orange a day for
each and every athlete on the football
and basketball squads throughout his
coaching and administrative years,

In addition to the orange after prac-
tice, he has urged every athlete to cat
another orange for breakfast ani still
another before going to bed=--throe oranges
a day and more if possible. Oranges stim-
ulate appetites and at the same “ime sat-
isfy both thirst and hunger - thus prever
ting overeating.

The best wey to cat an orange is to
break up the cells and let the juice of